BOSTON -- Brad Marchand said that he was fighting back tears. Andrew Ference said that he was still having trouble not getting choked up. Claude Julien said it was a "moment that made you feel proud of this city."

Rene Rancourt let the Boston crowd take over midway through the word "proudly" in the Star-Spangled Banner, and it set the tone for an emotional night that never let up, even after the game ended with the Buffalo Sabres coming from behind for a 3-2 shootout win over the Bruins.

"Buffalo staying out there and us staying out there, we just wanted to show our respect and give thanks to our fans," Marchand said. "I know it's a tough time right now, we know that. For them to come out and support us, to take their minds off everything for a couple of hours and come in tonight, we just wanted to say thanks. We're thinking of everyone and they're in our thoughts and prayers. ... Nobody had to tell each other to do it. We knew that was the thing to do, and kudos to Buffalo, the respect that they showed tonight, not only from there, but you see it everywhere. We just want to thank them and we want to show them we appreciate everyone coming out tonight."

Said Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, who was the deserving No. 1 star of the game: "It's emotional for me as well, as an American... we like to play, but there are bigger things. I think the way people have stepped up and tried to help, tried to do the right things... you can tell that this is only going to make us stronger."

After Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon left three people dead and more than 170 injured, the Bruins-Sabres game on Wednesday night was the first major event in the city, the first chance for everyone to come out and show the world that Boston will not be cowered by a coward. The Bruins' game on Monday had been canceled, as had the Celtics' game on Tuesday, and rightly so. Wednesday was a good time to both honor the victims, and to give the city at least a couple of hours to think about something other than the awfulness that unfolded on what is traditionally one of Boston's best days.

"The only thing we can do ... is play the game to give something to Boston to be happy about," said David Krejci, who has been with the Bruins since the start of his NHL career in 2007. "It's been an emotional last few days. Just like everybody else, I had just one channel on the TV the last couple of days."

It was healthy to get away from the TV on Wednesday night, even if there were still plenty of reminders that Boston is a different place now than it was up until Monday afternoon. Even before fans came into TD Garden, they certainly noticed the increased police presence. Then there were the increased security measures for anyone entering the arena. And, of course, there were the pregame ceremonies, all the chants during the game, and the stick salute.

What may have escaped notice is that the trash cans along Causeway Street had been removed. This is a security measure that has been taken in countless other cities, but it is different than adding guards or stepping up searches. It is stripping something away. Sure, it's just garbage, but it goes along with what else was stripped away on Monday, if not from a world that has experienced sports-related terrorism before, most notably at the 1972 and 1996 Olympics, then from the city of Boston. While it is possible to get back to feeling normal, the definition of normal changes. That is what it means when the garbage cans go away.

Normal also now means that the role of sports changes from mere distraction into something with more meaning.

"You feel that this is your home, that this is what you represent as a professional organization," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "The first thing you want to do is help out, and you do the best you can. We did that for Newtown, and I'll tell you what, there wasn't a better feeling than going there and trying to spread some joy and put smiles on some people's faces. Our goal is to do the same thing here with this city and everyone that was involved in this tragedy. We've got a good group of guys here that we're fortunate to have on our team that care a lot for what's happened. There's no doubt it affected us individually and personally. Certainly, I'd like this to be a group that can do something that can really help this city get through it."

That means more than just playing games, but doing tangible things, such as Marchand raffling off a suite for the Bruins' first playoff game, with proceeds going to benefit the family of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombings. Bruins players and staff gave 80 tickets for Wednesday's game to first responders from Monday, and the team partnered with the NHL and NHLPA on a $250,000 donation to The One Fund Boston.

"We were just talking about it and figured it would be a great opportunity to help out," Marchand said of the suite raffle, which is for a guaranteed game after the Bruins officially clinched a playoff spot Wednesday night. "We figured that with something like that, it would generate a good opportunity to raise some money for some victims involved. We just thought that any way we could help out, we'd love to."

Just getting back on the ice was a good way to help Boston start getting back to normal, whatever that may be now, and into the future.

"You try and live your life in peace, and there's people that are trying to disrupt that," Julien said. "The people that are trying to live their life in peace are all going to stick together."